[ALTOGETHER Catholic Church in US has paid nearly $2 billion to compensate its victims of abuse. Yet in India similar cases are covered up.
For instance when a nun was attacked in Jhabua his ilk went to bat against Hindus. And dutifully the secular press in India published those false allegations on front page, thereby smearing the fair name of India and tolerant Hindus. There was no apology, none whatsoever, not even a retraction when truth came out that the attack was handiwork of fellow Christian tribals themselves. ?Venkata Mangala.]
Cardinal Roger Mahony, leader of the US'slargest Roman Catholic archdiocese, apologised recently to the hundreds of people who will get a share of a $660 million settlement over allegations of clergy sex abuse.
?There really is no way to go back and give them that innocence that was taken from them. … The one thing I wish I could give the victims, I cannot,? he said.
Mahony said that he has met in the past 14 months with dozens of people alleging clergy abuse and that those meetings helped him understand the importance of a quick resolution to what he called a ?terrible sin and crime.?
The settlement will not affect the archdiocese'score ministry, Mahony said, but the church will have to sell buildings, use some of its invested funds and borrow money. The archdiocese will not sell any parish property, he said.
The deal between the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Los Angeles and more than 500 alleged victims of clergy sexual abuse reached recently is by far the largest payout since the nationwide clergy abuse scandal emerged in 2002 in Boston.
The settlement also calls for the release of priests? confidential personnel files after review by a judge. According to Tod Tamberg, spokesman for the archdiocese, the settlement had not required Mahony to make his public apology.
The deal settles all 508 cases that remained against the archdiocese, which also paid $60 million in December to settle 45 cases that weren'tcovered by sexual abuse insurance.
Under the latest deal, the archdiocese will pay $250 million, insurance carriers will pay a combined $227 million and several religious orders will chip in $60 million. The remaining $123 million will come from litigation with religious orders that chose not to participate in the deal, with the archdiocese guaranteeing resolution of those 80 to 100 cases within five years, said Michael Hennigan, archdiocese attorney. The archdiocese is released from liability in those claims, Tamberg said.
Plaintiffs? attorneys can expect to receive as much as 40 per cent of the settlement money?or $264 million?for their work.
Standing outside the cathedral, Mary Grant, spokeswoman for Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests, said the settlement did not end suffering for the thousands of victims of clergy abuse.
The settlements push the total amount paid out by the US church since 1950 to more than $2 billion, with about a quarter of that coming from the Los Angeles archdiocese.
The Los Angeles archdiocese, its insurers and various Roman Catholic orders have paid more than $114 million to settle 86 claims so far.
Several religious orders in California have also reached multimillion-dollar settlements in recent months, including the Carmelites, the Franciscans and the Jesuits S. Church since 1950 to more than $2 billion, with about a quarter of that coming from the Los Angeles archdiocese.
Courtesy: The Associated Press
